Immigration overhaul seen in Ventura County as overdue
Photo by Anthony Plascencia, Ventura County Star — Adolpho Perez, 40, of Oxnard, sits in the grass in front of the United Farm Workers union office in Oxnard on Monday. Perez, who works as a strawberry picker, arrived in the United States from Mexico 12 years ago.
Immigrants take the U.S. oath of citizenship during naturalization ceremony Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, in Irving, Texas. Key Democratic and Republican senators are pledging to get a wide-ranging immigration bill through the Senate by summer even as they point to numerous pitfalls ahead. (AP Photo/LM Otero)Ventura County farmworkers, growers and lawmakers applauded immigration proposals that look to implement a legalization process for many of the estimated 11 million immigrants in the United States illegally, while upgrading border security to prevent illegal entries and temporary-visa violations.
Lauro Barajas, regional director of United Farm Workers, said the proposals are not perfect but that the fact that Republican and Democratic lawmakers united to address the problem is commendable.
“It’s good that both parties came together and started looking for a way to fix this issue,” said Barajas, who works out of the UFW’s office in Oxnard. “A way to fix immigration is being taken. For us, that’s the most positive thing.”
Barajas said he represents 3,500 farmworkers in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and thinks that more than half are undocumented.
About 74,000 undocumented immigrants live in Ventura County, making it the county with the sixth highest percentage of immigrants in the state, according to a 2011 Public Policy Institute of California report.
A bipartisan group of leading senators announce that they have reached agreement on the principles of sweeping legislation to rewrite the nation’s immigration laws, during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. From left are Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. The deal covers border security, guest workers and employer verification, as well as a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in this country. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)If a law is enacted following the proposed standards, illegal immigrants could immediately register with the government to get probationary legal status to live and work without fear of deportation after passing a background check and paying a fine and any unpaid taxes.
Probationary legal immigrants could become permanent residents with full access to federal benefits only after certain border enforcement measures are taken and every person already waiting for a green card passes through the system.
There would be exceptions and a streamlined citizenship process for those who entered the country illegally as children and undocumented immigrants working in the agricultural industry.
Adolfo Rodrigo Lopez, 42, has been a strawberry farmworker in Oxnard for the past 12 years while his wife and six children remained in Mexico. He did not want to disclose his legal status but said he has many acquaintances and friends that would benefit from the immigration proposals.
“A reform is what we need right now,” he said in Spanish. “I hope they pass a law. It benefits everyone.”
People make their way to a naturalization ceremony at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, in Irving, Texas. Key Democratic and Republican senators are pledging to get a wide-ranging immigration bill through the Senate by summer even as they point to numerous pitfalls ahead. (AP Photo/LM Otero)Tom Nassif, president and CEO of Western Growers, said: “We have worked for years with Senators (John) McCain and (Jeff) Flake on a solution for the immigration crisis facing agriculture. We applaud them for developing these principles and look forward to working together with them along with Senators (Diane) Feinstein and (Marco) Rubio to ensure the agriculture piece of this critical legislation addresses our industry’s concerns once and for all.”
Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, R-Camarillo, who shortly after the November election publicly called on Republicans to champion the creation of a pathway to citizenship, said he was encouraged by the bipartisan Senate proposal.
“From the details I’ve seen so far, it looks like a very thoughtful way to approach the issue,” Gorell said.
He said he likes the provisions for tighter border controls and employer sanctions combined with an approach that gives illegal immigrants already working here “a known pathway toward citizenship that will give a lot of comfort and security to families that have the despair of legal uncertainty right now.”
Miriam Bilaih shows off her U.S. citizen naturalization document after a naturalization ceremony Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, in Irving, Texas. Key Democratic and Republican senators are pledging to get a wide-ranging immigration bill through the Senate by summer even as they point to numerous pitfalls ahead. (AP Photo/LM Otero)Gorell said that issuing work visas to those already here “would be a bump to our economy right now” because it would fully bring them into the system and “make them taxpayers in every sense.”
Assemblyman Das Williams, D-Santa Barbara, said an approach that includes paying a fine before being able to get in line for citizenship strikes an appropriate balance.
“There needs to be some accountability for people who bucked the law,” he said.
Williams said the inconsistency of the current system has always been that “our law says we don’t want these workers, while our economy says we definitely need them.”
He said the results of the November election appear to have motivated Republicans to change their position on providing a pathway to citizenship.
“They’re looking at the numbers and the fact that Republicans will lose elections if they continue to be an impediment to immigration reform,” Williams said. “Some are changing their tune to make the Republican Party more acceptable to Latinos.”